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This is a hands-on guide for graduate students and young researchers wishing to perfect the practical skills needed for a successful research career. By teaching junior scientists to develop effective research habits, the book helps to make the experience of graduate study a more efficient and rewarding one. The authors have taught a graduate course on the topics covered for many years, and provide a sample curriculum for instructors in graduate schools wanting to teach a similar course. Topics covered include choosing a research topic, department, and advisor; making workplans; the ethics of research; using scientific literature; perfecting oral and written communication; publishing papers; writing proposals; managing time effectively; and planning a scientific career and applying for jobs in research and industry. The wealth of advice is invaluable to students, junior researchers and mentors in all fields of science, engineering, and the humanities. The authors have taught a graduate course on the topics covered for many years, and provide a sample curriculum for instructors in graduate schools wanting to teach a similar course. The sample curriculum is available in the book as Appendix B, and as an online resource.

Reviews & endorsements

'… a must for any graduate student.'
'I enjoyed your approach to academic planning, problem solving and personal development. I will certainly recommend your class to other students!'
'… I learned a lot of things that will carry into my future research.'
Comments from students on Professor Snieder and Professor Larner's course

'… this book will be an important resource for students considering entering careers in science, and I would definitely encourage students to read it.'
Kurt Haas, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

'… conveys a healthy balance between research as a passion and as a practical reality. It contains a wealth of positive and useful advice that should be of great benefit to young researchers.'
Frits van Oostrom, Utrecht University, Emeritus President of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences

'… so full of useful, considered and well-balanced advice that … the main thought provoked by it is 'why wasn't it around when I was a graduate student?' … littered with relevant and interesting
quotes from a wide range of sources … the chapter on communication should be mandatory reading for all scientists, young or old.'
The Leading Edge

'The Art of Being a Scientist provides a … modern treatment of soft skills and an updated discussion of the differences between industrial and academic workplaces. … a welcome map for the voyage that is scientific graduate education. Graduate students will find it particularly useful and will likely consult it often throughout their academic experience and beyond; it will be valuable, as well, to undergraduate students as they consider graduate school. … an excellent resource for graduate-school mentors.'
Renee D. Diehl, Physics Today

'I strongly recommend this book. I believe that every potential graduate student or mentor should read it.'
International Statistical Review

'… valuable to students and their mentors in all sciences, hard or soft, and engineering.'
Choice

'… is this book practically useful? The answer is 'yes, yes, and yes!' … This is a true success! … a very good reading for students who plan to make a career in geosciences, educators who wish to supervise their students efficiently … and university managers who are responsible for an academic curriculum. The reviewer will recommend this book strongly to his students …'
Zentralblatt für Geologie und Paläontologie

The Art of Being a Scientist

Roel Snieder, Ken Larner

General Resources

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Instructors have used or reviewed this title for the following courses

Advanced Inorganic Chemistry

Being a scientist

BioResearch

Experimental Physics and Advanced Experimental Physics

Foundations in Geosciences

Geological Presentations

Graduate Orientation

Graduate Writing Seminar

Imaging Science Seminar

Introduction to Current Astrophysics Research

Masters Thesis I and ll

Pre-Thesis Seminar

Professional Development in Biology

Professional Practices in Geology

Professional Skills for Students in the Biomedical Sciences

Proposal writing

Research Methods and Strategies

Research Methods in Forestry

Research and Information Systems in the Life Sciences

Science Savviness in the Modern World

Success in graduate school

Supplemental Writing Skills-Geology Seminar

The Art of Earth Sciences

The Art of Science

Writing for Astronomers

Authors

Roel Snieder, Colorado School of MinesRoel Snieder holds the Keck Foundation Endowed Chair of Basic Exploration Science at the Colorado School of Mines. In 1984 he received a Masters degree in Geophysical Fluid Dynamics from Princeton University, and in 1987 a Ph.D. in seismology from Utrecht University. For this work he received the Vening Meinesz award from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research. In 1988 he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Université Paris VI, and was appointed in 1989 as associate professor at Utrecht University. In 1993 he was promoted to full professor of seismology at Utrecht University, where from 1997-2000 he served as Dean of the Faculty of Earth Sciences. In 2000 he was elected as Fellow of the American Geophysical Union. He is also the author of A Guided Tour of Mathematical Methods: For the Physical Sciences (also published by Cambridge University Press). He has served on the editorial boards of Geophysical Journal International, Inverse Problems, and Reviews of Geophysics.

Ken Larner, Colorado School of MinesKen Larner is University Emeritus Professor of Geophysics at the Colorado School of Mines (CSM). He received the degree of geophysical engineer from CSM in 1960 and a Ph.D. in geophysics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1970. During his final nine years with Western Geophysical Company (1970–1988), he was vice president for geophysical research, leaving to become the Charles Henry Green Professor of Exploration Geophysics at CSM (1988–2004). He served as president of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) in 1988–89. In 1996 he received the SEG's highest award, the Maurice Ewing Gold Medal, and in 2003 the Kapitsa Gold Medal of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences.

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